Optical Heterodyne Based Hybrid Lidar-Radar Signal Receiver

To address the U.S. Navy’s need for a hybrid lidar-radar receiver, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Optical Heterodyne Hybrid Lidar-Radar Signal Receiver (OPHESIR) system. This proposed OPHESIR is based on a high-sensitivity optical heterodyne technology and normal-incidence, high-bandwidth and large area photodetector. It can recover 0.5–1 GHz modulated 5–30 ns laser pulses with high dynamic range over 70 dB and small loss under 10 dB. The innovative combination of intermediate frequency locking based optical local oscillator in the optical heterodyning module, and a Si-based normal-incidence detector with active area >8 mm will enable the OPHESIR to overcome the limited sensitivity, dynamic range, bandwidth, and active detection area of current lidar-radar signal receiving methods. Compact and highly efficient, the OPHESIR can be deployed on UAVs or aircrafts as a hybrid lidar-radar receiver to recover and process the radar subcarrier from a modulated pulsed optical signal. In Phase I POC will demonstrate the feasibility of OPHESIR to meet the Navy’s specifications by assembling and bench-top testing a technology readiness level (TRL) 4 OPHESIR system prototype. In Phase II, POC plans to demonstrate a fully functioning TRL 5-6 OPHESIR prototype.